Kanye West Bank Ban Is An Indefensible Slippery Slope

News broke Wednesday that JP Morgan would be banning Kanye West from using their banking services, with no official reason given, according to a Candace Owens tweet:

But it's certainly possible that the real reason for the ban is West's recent remarks about Jewish people on Twitter. West also apparently made offensive statements during a recent interview for The Shop, which resulted in that episode being pulled before it aired:

Removing a television episode due to inappropriate statements is one thing, but refusing banking services is another.

Banking is a fundamental necessity, especially for someone like West, with the financial complexity of his income situation.

While antisemitic remarks should not be tolerated, the banking industry deciding who it wants to do business with based on Twitter sets a terrifying precedent.

Kanye West (C), attends the Givenchy Spring-Summer 2023 fashion show in Paris, on Oct. 2, 2022. (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP) (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA/AFP via Getty Images)

Just recently, PayPal announced, and then withdrew, a policy designed to fine individuals for the crime of contradicting liberal consensus.

In much the same way, this move likely indicates that banks will be willing to engage in similar viewpoint discrimination.

Already, we've seen financial institutions pull donations from politicians who supported Donald Trump's election claims, showing how committed they are to ensuring that only liberals are allowed to question election results.

Who Will They Come For Next?

As with most woke policies, the slippery slope is sure to be nearly endless.

Now, it's targeting Kanye West, but when the next generation of woke employees take over, who knows if they'll go after anyone who publicly disagrees with the idea of biological males competing in women's sports.

We've already seen that spreading "COVID misinformation," otherwise defined as information that the government's preferred "experts" disagree with, can lead to deplatforming, frozen bank accounts or being fired.

Punishment never ends with the "bad guys," because the definition of "bad guys" is ever changing and increasingly expanding.

JP Morgan recently pulled the same thing with the National Committee for Religious Freedom, before demanding it share its donor list to be reinstated:

Once the cat is out of the bag, it's impossible to get it back. And the cat is long since out of the bag.

Whatever activists on the left demand, they get.

Imagine if these same standards were applied to those on the left.

Rashida Tlaib has a history of making blatantly anti-semitic statements, but there's no outcry to remove her from platforms or from the financial services industry.

Advocating to put sexually explicit materials in schools is acceptable, according to JP Morgan, since none of the teachers or school districts engaging in that practice face consequences.

Doctors who perform gender transition surgeries on minors are allowed to bank there, with no issues.

This kind of debanking has been attempted by liberals before as well, when the Obama administration enacted a program designed to discourage banks from working with gun shops and other businesses they disliked.

It continued into 2017, until the Trump administration put a stop to the offensive policy.

Because authoritarianism is now ingrained in the actions of left wing ideologues, they have no problem unleashing the power of the state or the institutions they control against those who disagree with them.

And unfortunately, JP Morgan cares exclusively about appeasing the left.

JP Morgan's Hypocrisy

On its website, JP Morgan proudly discusses their commitment to banking in Saudi Arabia, saying it's the only U.S. bank with two licenses in the country:

"We are the only U.S.-headquartered financial institution with two operating licenses in Saudi Arabia, providing access to a comprehensive range of products and global banking capabilities for clients in the country."

Homosexuality is a crime in Saudi Arabia, in some cases punishable by death.

Unsurprisingly, their treatment of Jewish people has been less than friendly. Practicing Judaism is not allowed, and the Washington Post reported in 2006 that Saudi educational textbooks vilified Jews.

For years, Jewish people were banned from the country entirely, and even recently, those with Israeli passports have been denied entry. JP Morgan has no problem doing business in a country with those policies.

JP Morgan also has an office in Qatar, a country with a horrifying track record on human rights. And of course, they proudly do business in China and throughout the Middle East, where 74% of people harbor anti-semitic views, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

The hypocrisy is endless.

Whoever they're coming for now, it's inevitable that they'll come for you next.